Panthers Not For Profit

I’ve been rather excited to have snagged two of the Panther mounts already, and have made no bones about wanting the other two. I just happen to be cheap. Well, not cheap. I just don’t like dropping below certain gold thresholds. I’ve had a few comments about having more than enough gold and that’s true. But I’m the only one who knows where my gold comes from or even how much I have these days, so that suggestion is made without knowledge. Also, while others were buying Yaks and Tundras and pets and gear…I was saving. You have your gold vices and I have mine. Sorry, where was I?

The panthers. I’ve purchased two now, and to be honest they are the only ones I’ve seen in Azeroth so far. It’s kinda nice being the only one, but I do honestly expect that to change. Plus, most people are in Pandaria at this time…and while I’ve not seen anyone riding them I have seen people trying to sell them. Emphasis trying.

The going rate for the Panthers is roughly 30k, slightly higher for red because Blizzard’s absurd emphasis on putting the Intellect, Strength, and Agility cuts in one colour continues to cause red gems to sell for more than any other colour. To me, 30k is about right. On most servers, that’s going to be a slight profit for you unless you’re just buying the mats at whatever the Auction House price is. Let’s look at it closer:

Orb of Mystery is 20k from a vendor. Now, you can get that reduced to 18k via your guild, but no lower.

Living Steel is about 1k a bar. You need four. There’s ways to lower that cost via do it yourself, but not everyone will want to wait four days.

Serpent’s Eye vary in price and you need two per cat. I got some as cheap as 22g, while other servers are in around 70g.

A stack of colour appropriate gems (green=Wild Jade, red=Primordial Ruby, yellow=Sun’s Radiance, Blue=River’s Heart). At this stage, getting a stack for less than 2k can be done, but mileage varies.

So if someone is selling the Panther for 30k, they’re probably making a 2k profit. Perhaps a little more, perhaps a little less. Still, I don’t see the panthers ever settling in for less than 25k unless someone’s basically just giving them away for the cost. The thing is, the players who want the mount now like myself -we’re going out and having it made. We’re doing the legwork. Others are no doubt just making it themselves. So I just don’t see a market for the Panthers -yet. I know plenty of people who want them, they just can’t afford them.

I think that’s where the real issue lies at the moment. The people that can buy them are making them privately. The ones who would openly buy it, can’t afford it. There seems to be no grey area in-between. Now, raiding is starting and players are getting capped. That means more dailies and more gold drops, so the gold should start coming in. Once a couple of panthers start to pop up, you’ll see players having financial goals and they’ll start saving to buy them. That’s when I think there will be a market for these mounts. Until then, I’d really only make it for yourself, a friend, a guildie, or someone looking to have one made.

If you can afford to make them for yourself, then I think a person should just do it. My comment was more to the effect of it’s too early to be making these for a profit as you’re essentially creating a supply (at your own expense) for a demand that isn’t yet there.